ABSTRACT
The origins, or etymology, of 'policy' reveals various and multiple meanings. In the Greek philosophy of Plato's Republic, policy concerned notions of citizenship, while in the Middle Ages the term related to matters of government, the organisation of politics and public administration. Policy is a term that regularly makes an appearance in the study of education. With regard to its current status and usage, the concept of policy in the study of education is most frequently encountered in relation to Ball's 'big P' use and Dunn's 'unrealised need'. In contrast to a rational model of policy formation, an interpretive perspective sees policy as contextual and temporal, in which events and their ideological foundations are made subject to close interpretation. Consequently, the interest of theorists who focus on policy-as-discourse is not only on the 'policy problem', but on how policy 'works' for good or for bad.
